Ribonucleotide reductase (RR) is a highly regulated enzyme which catalyzes the de novo dNTP synthesis pathway that is ubiquitously present in human, bacteria, yeast, and other organisms. RR plays a crucial role in de novo DNA synthesis by reducing ribonucleoside diphosphates to 2′-deoxy ribonucleoside diphosphates and maintains balanced pools of deoxynucleoside triphosphates (dNTPs) in the cell.
RRs are divided into three classes, I to III, based on the method of free-radical generation. All eukaryotic organisms encode a class I RR, consisting of an αnβn multi-subunit protein complex, in which the minimally active form is a2β2. The α or RR1 (large) subunit contains the catalytic (C-site) and two allosteric sites, while the β or RR2 subunit houses a stable tyrosyl free radical that is transferred some 35 Å to the catalytic site to initiate radical-based chemistry on the substrate.
RR is regulated transcriptionally, allosterically and, in the yeast S. cerevisiae, RR is further regulated by subunit localization and by its protein inhibitor Sml1. In mammalian cells, RR activity is also controlled by the RR2 levels. Consistent with the varying RR2 levels, dNTP pools also vary with the phases of the cell cycle, reaching the highest concentration during S-phase. RR is regulated by an intricate allosteric mechanism. The two allosteric sites of RR are the specificity site (S-site), which determines substrate preference, and the activity site (A-site), which stimulates or inhibits RR activity depending on whether ATP or dATP is bound.
RR is directly involved in neoplastic tumor growth, metastasis, and drug resistance. The proliferation of cancer cells requires excess dNTPs for DNA synthesis. Therefore, an increase in RR activity is necessary as it helps provide extra dNTPs for DNA replication in primary and metastatic cancer cells. Because of this critical role in DNA synthesis, RR represents an important target for cancer therapy. However, existing chemotherapies that target ribonucleotide reductase are nucleoside-based analogs. Hence they are promiscuous, leading to nonspecific binding of other nucleoside binding proteins which results in unwanted side effects. Therefore, there is a need for compositions and methods for specifically targeting and inhibiting RR activity in neoplastic cells in the treatment of neoplastic disorders.